I watched the following video by Gary Vaynerchuk the other day.
He was offering advice to a young entrepreneur who asked what she should do about the people who thinks she’s too young to start her own business. He said something that stuck with me, so I figured it was worth writing about. He said, “Spending any time debating who’s cheering for what outcome or what point of view, is a complete waste of your energy”.
I think that this is something we all need to remember. At the end of the day, it’s inevitable that there are going to be people who don’t believe in our goals or the things we want to do. We have a choice to make. We can either allow the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of others stop us from pursuing our goals, or we can follow our hearts, trust our intuition and do the things we feel called to do.
I’m constantly reminded of the Wayne Dyer quote “other people’s opinions of you are none of your business”. This has been a huge part of the work I’ve had to do on myself because worrying about what other people think is something that I’ve been told I should care about for as long as I can remember. It’s also something I’ve struggled with. I’ve often wondered why I need to care about the opinions of others. As a teen I remember asking my mother who cares what other people think and often wondered if anyone really cared about what I was up to anyway.
In the same video, at one point Gary says to the young entrepreneur that either the critics are right or she is. She gets to choose what she believes. I believe that this is some of the most valuable advice to give to anyone at any age. If you’re passionate about something and there are people who don’t support you in your pursuit of it, you get to choose whether you let their lack of support stop you or not.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned so far in my journey, it’s that there will always be those who don’t get it. The people who don’t understand why you can’t maintain the status quo will urge you to be grateful for what you have and stop looking for more. They won’t support your endeavors and you have to learn to be okay with it.
For each person who doesn’t get it, there will always be those that do. There will also be those who are inspired by your willingness to follow your heart and trust your instincts. You can allow the people who don’t believe in you to sidetrack you in the pursuit of your goals and creating the life you want for yourself. The risk you take is that you are left living an unfulfilled life or one full of regret.
If that isn’t the life you want to live, then stop worrying about what other people think. You have no control over the thoughts, feelings and beliefs of others. The only thing you have control over is yourself. Listen to your heart and trust your inner guidance. Remember that no matter what, you always get to choose what you do next.